Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

46 reviews

rachellen's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Speechless. Maybe I’ll get back to writing a review once it’s taken me 5 years to process everything. 

Christ. I need to wash my brain. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Death, Incest, Murder, Blood, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Bullying, Cannibalism, Sexism, and Violence

abril_chavez's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This book will take you on a rollercoaster. It is very slow paced and you need to get through to the end to see the whole picture for what it is. It takes on a life of its own and it’ll creep up on you like you never expected.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Incest, Death, Grief, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Incest

this book contains detailed description of sexual assault - rape - of a child and emotional/physical/mental abuse of a child

emilyandthewhippet's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Uncomfortable and something that you're not going to forget for a long time. I'm not sure that's a good thing though. The first half was traumatic and the second... I don't even know? Not a nice read but well written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Violence, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Bullying, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, and Mental illness

gabrielaresende's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Self harm, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Bullying, Cannibalism, and Adult/minor relationship

markwillnevercry's review against another edition

0.25

Yeah, no, thanks, I'm good, me and Sayaka Murata are just not chilling together, such is life sometimes. This was just not good, not for me at least. I kinda get what the author was going for, but just because an idea exists, it does not mean that it should be put to life. The amount of trigger warnings that this book needs is way to big, even tho it says basically the same thing as Convenience Store Woman. I will not continue with this author.

Reading notes:

Just a reminder, that we have two sex scenes, where Natsuki is 12.

The second she started talking about copying the way her friends talk it was just like "Ah yes, this is just reskinned convenience store woman".

There is victim blaming. 

This book is published in 2018 and there is talk about how Natsuki does not have permission from her husband :)
Why are we here :)

Ah yes, Natsuki has the responsibility to have sex with her husband :)

-//- 

Ah yes, Natsuki was so lucky that her teacher was in love with her :)

Of course only Natsuki cares about love, it is not a manly thing :)

I am tired :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Abandonment, Blood, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Ableism, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Grief, Pedophilia, Confinement, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

plumdustsuns's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Grief, Incest, Blood, Gore, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Violence, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Death, Murder, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

th0rn's review against another edition

dark

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

PLEASE Read the warnings, the synopsis gives no hint for some of the big triggers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Incest, Rape, and Grief

Moderate: Death and Mental illness

cephalopop's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Pedophilia, Incest, Grief, Gore, Child abuse, Cannibalism, and Body horror

pennepasta's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Grief, Rape, Gore, Addiction, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Body horror, Sexual content, Blood, and Death

erebus53's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

CW: before going in, this book is very unsettling and deals with horror, trauma, and sexual abuse.

This is a book I read as part of book club. I seem to have been the first to finish it, probably because I started it before the month technically started (and my timezone favours me too). Set in Japan, it tells the story of a woman who approaches life quite differently from other people. She is traumatised as a child and this also affects how she interprets things happening around her as she grows to womanhood. The story is told in 2 timelines, childhood and adulthood.

The story starts out as though it's a serious critique of culture but by the end of the book has devolved into a complete mess of horror and depravity that seems deliberately contrived to unsettle the reading audience. It also seems to have less of a grip on reality at the end and disappointingly bibbles off into impossibilities. I was prepared to suspend disbelief and I would have been very happy for things to have become some fluffy candy fantasy, but instead it veered in a much more darkly destructive direction.

Three main characters each seem to have lived scarred lives, and it seems like the author blames most of those woes on their mothers. I don't know if this is just misogynistic internalisation, or a critique of the treatment of women in Japanese society. There is a lot of critique... some of which is valid, and some which is pretty much destructive nonsense.

I'm not sure if the messy disaster that is the end of the book is supposed to be a reinforcement of the necessity of social controls, or just a flight of dark fancy given gory wings and teeth. I tend to think that it's mostly the latter, and if this is supposed to be a sensible discussion about the oppressive nature of a coercive culture that demands that people force themselves to marry and procreate to meet the needs of the societal Factory, then there are better ways to have that conversation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Physical abuse, Vomit, Sexism, Violence, Gore, Grief, Sexual assault, Death, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship